


Ring Shopping

by Vandergaard



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-07 03:19:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17952632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vandergaard/pseuds/Vandergaard
Summary: Charity has decided to get Vanessa an engagement ring. Chas is dragged along for support.





	Ring Shopping

**Author's Note:**

> My take on what might have happened in between Charity asking Chas to help her with “shopping”, and then the two of them admiring the engagement ring in the Woolpack.

Charity is noticeably quiet in the car. Chas tries to begin a conversation a few times, but Charity’s mind is so obviously elsewhere that Chas gives up and just stares out of the window, wondering what her cousin is dragging her into this time.  _ Shopping Trip _ . That’s what she said. But she was vague about what, exactly, they were going shopping for. And when it was time to leave the pub, Charity fobbed Vanessa off with a rubbish excuse about needing to go to the Cash and Carry. 

Maybe it’s to do with the stabbing, she thinks. Charity’s definitely been less Charity-like since it happened. Anxious, panicky, hovering over Vanessa with more care and solicitude than Chas had ever though her capable of. What is it they say? Something about it taking a tragedy to put everything in perspective? An image of Grace pops into her mind, fleetingly, and Chas shivers. 

The movement attracts Charity’s attention. “You cold?” She fiddles with the car heating. 

Well, well. Charity concerning herself with the welfare of someone she’s not sleeping with or given birth to. Chas never thought she’d see the day. 

xxx

Traffic’s fairly light - it’s a weekday and still pretty early - so they reach town quickly. Charity pulls into a space in the multi-storey car park and turns off the car engine, but makes no move to take off her seatbelt or get out of the car. She’s looking straight ahead, one hand on the keys, the other on the gear stick. 

“Charity?” Slowly, Charity turns her head to look at Chas. “You all right?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Course. I just…” she shakes her head as if trying to jump start her mouth. “We’re here because I need to get something specific. For Vanessa.”

“O-kay,” responds Chas carefully. “What? Is it something to help her get better?” Charity runs a hand through her hair, but doesn’t say anything. A horrible thought crosses Chas’s mind. “It’s not anything illegal is it?”

“No!” Charity shifts in her seat to better face her cousin. “I need… I’m going to get…” She sighs and rubs at her tired eyes. 

“Whatever it is, spit it out woman!” Chas is starting to worry about what Charity has got her involved in. 

“I’m buying an engagement ring.”

Dead silence fills the car. 

“You what?” Chas can’t believe, or comprehend, what she’s hearing. 

“An engagement ring,” repeats Charity. 

Chas scans Charity’s face for signs that she’s being sarcastic but her face is as open as it ever gets. 

“For Vanessa?” The question is ridiculous, but then so is the idea that this is actually happening. 

“No, Laurel. Now she’s broken up with Bob I figured it’s time to take my shot.” She gives Chas a withering look, sarcasm mode fully activated again. “Of course Vanessa, you plum.”

“Has she asked you for a ring?” 

“Yes, it’s on the shopping list she gave me. Painkillers, Lucozade, and an engagement ring.  _ Did she ask for a ring _ ?” She scoffs. “Did you have one too many Gins last night?” She shakes her head. “Of course she hasn’t asked me a for a ring. Vanessa’s not that sort of woman. She doesn’t make demands.”

Chas pinches the bridge of her nose, trying to ward off the headache that’s starting to make itself known. 

“So this is something you’ve just decided? You want to give her one?” Charity raises one eyebrow. “Don’t answer that.” She waves a hand in front of her face as if to disperse the previous sentence. “I’ll rephrase. You want to give Vanessa an engagement ring?”

The mischievous look slides off Charity’s face to be replaced with a confident and serious “Yes.”

Chas sighs. “This is my fault, isn’t it?” She says it more to the car than anyone else. 

“Your fault?”

She ignores the interruption and continues. “You’re doing that classic Charity ‘acting without thinking’ thing because I’ve said you need to let her know how you feel.”

“Excuse me?” Charity leans back, looking Chas up and down, like she’s sizing her up for a fight. 

“Charity, this is insanity.”

“Insanity?” Her eyebrows rise even higher than her voice. “What do you mean?”

“When normal people want their partners to know how they feel, do you know what they do?” She doesn’t wait for a response. “They sit them down and  _ have a conversation.  _ You know-  _ I love you  _ or  _ You’re important to me _ or whatever.” 

“Yeah, but-“

Chas continues. “You know what kind of person blurts out a proposal without thinking about the consequences? An idiot.”

Charity frowns. “An idiot? Consequences?” She looks genuinely mystified. “Sorry, am I missing something here?”

Chas leans forward and takes Charity’s hand in hers. Charity looks vaguely disgusted at the contact but doesn’t pull away. 

“Look, love, if you propose, what do you think’s going to happen?” She’s speaking in a slow, gentle voice. 

Charity shrugs. “She’ll hopefully say yes?”

“Right.” Chas nods. “And what are you going to do then?”

“...Get married?”

“Right!” Chas is looking at Charity the way that Charity often looks at Marlon. Or Paddy. Or Tracy. Like she’s a moron. “Wait.” The condescending smile fades. “Did you just say ‘She’ll hopefully say yes?’”

“Yes.”

“Hopefully? As in, that’s what you want? Her to say yes?”

“Uh, yes. Obviously. What kind of weirdo proposes marriage hoping the other person will say no?” It’s Charity’s turn for condescension now. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Chas holds up her hands. “You  _ want _ to marry her?”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” she snaps back defensively. “Vanessa’s a catch! She’s beautiful and amazing and sexy and-“

Chas holds up her hands in mock surrender. 

“-Wow.” Chas is looking at Charity like she’s just sprouted wings. “I am so sorry love.”

“For what? You’re not making any sense today. Did Paddy roll onto you in the night and deprive you of oxygen or summat?”

Chas ignores the insult to her beloved and lets a genuine smile spread across her face. “When you said you wanted to propose, I thought it was just a crazy gesture, and that you hadn’t thought about what it all really meant.”

“Babe, I’ve done nothing but think about it for days. I need to do this. I’ve wasted enough time pretending that I don’t care, our relationship isn’t serious, and that I don’t love her. The truth is, I do care, I am more serious about her than I’ve ever been about anyone in my entire life, and I love her so much that if she hadn’t come out of that hospital-“ she stops, too choked to continue. 

“I know love. I know.” She pats Charity on the hand. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s any chance she’ll say no.”

“Really?” The word comes out as a whisper, and Chas is pretty sure there’s more than a tear or two making Charity’s eyes glisten. 

“I’m sure. She loves the bones of you.” She risks a nudge. “God knows why, mind.”

Charity smiles at that and gestures to herself. “What can I say? I’m hot vet kryptonite.”

Chas snorts. “Best stay away from Paddy then, eh?”

“I said  _ hot _ vet. Not bald vet.”

Chas rolls her eyes. “Do you have to ruin every nice moment we share?”

“Do you have to insist he lives with us?” comes the response. 

“Hey! I didn’t make a scene when Vanessa moved in.”

“Vanessa’s not a walking cockblock though, is she?” Charity scowls at several awkward memories. “I swear to god, your Paddy’s got a sixth sense. Always bursting into a room whenever I get within ten centimetres of Vanessa’s c—“

“Do NOT end that sentence. There are some things that do not need to be shared.” Chas glares. 

Charity folds her arms petulantly. “I was going to say ‘coat’,” she grumbles. 

xxx

They stay like that for a few moments, leaning back against their separate car doors like they’re in a standoff, until Chas starts laughing softly. 

“What’s so funny?”

Chas shakes her head. “Nothing. Just… I can’t believe we’re sat here, about to go buy an engagement ring for your girlfriend.”

Charity smiles in spite of herself. 

“Can’t quite believe it myself if I’m honest.” She looks up at Chas. “I’ve screwed up so many times. Proposing, being proposed to, getting married, jilted, divorced…” she lets the sentence trail off, shaking her head as if to also try and shake off the bad memories. When she smiles again it’s just a shade too bright. “It’s different this time. And I know I’ve said that before, but it really is different this time.”

“Because she’s a woman?”

“No. Because I’m doing it for the right reasons this time.” She sighs. “I’m not thinking about money, or power, or revenge. I’m going to propose to someone just because I actually want to marry them. Can you believe that?” A laugh escapes her lips. “Maybe I’ve actually learned something, finally?”

She looks to Chas for some validation and Chas nods encouragingly. 

“From what I’ve seen of the two of you together, I think this relationship might be the best thing that’s ever happened to you. I’ve never seen you this content ever.” She chuckles. “Who’d have thought Vanessa Woodfield would be the one to change you?”

Charity leans forward, frowning slightly. “Is that what you think? Is that what everyone thinks? That Vanessa’s changed me? Her eyes flash with something that Chas thinks might be offense. 

“Weeeeelllll,” Chas draws the word out slowly. “You’ve got to admit you’ve been different recently.”

“Different? Different how?”

“Less...you.” Chas gestured vaguely. “Oh, I dunno. Don’t get me wrong- you still shirk more than your fair share of your shifts, and you’ll still insult the punters whenever you get the opportunity, and you still-“

“Oi!” Charity cuts her off. “Are we anywhere near the end of ‘Charity Dingle’s list of failures’? Because if I sit here much longer my bits’ll go numb.”

Chas rolls her eyes. “As I was saying: you’re no Mother Theresa. But,” she pauses, enjoying how Charity is actually listening to her for once. “Look how far you’ve come. You’re running your own business.”

“I was doing that long before Ness.”

“You’ve got all four of your kids in your life, loving you.”

“I had three in my life anyway. And to be fair, I didn’t even know Ryan was… you know.” 

“Yes, okay, you had all that before Vanessa.” She smacks her hand against the seat in frustration. “Were you happy though? Before Vanessa?”

Charity knows the answer instinctively but it doesn’t stop the images from flooding, unbidden, into her mind. 

Jealousy over Daz (Daz!) inspiring cruel words that she justified to herself because they were true (and shouldn’t we all tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God?); using her uncertainty as a shield to try and deflect any real feelings from either side; denying and lying and manipulating. And then, when everything broke under the weight of her machinations, as it was always going to do, as she knew it would do, as she thought she wanted it to, she realised suddenly how much she actually wanted the relationship she couldn’t even admit she was in. Any attempts at playing it cool were well and truly over when she started chasing Vanessa. She’d been willing to chase her down the street; into a gay bar; to the ends of the earth if that’s what was needed.

“No,” she says finally. “No. I wasn’t happy at all.” How could she have been, without Vanessa in her life? Even the idea is laughable. Steady, patient Vanessa is her buoy; marking out the hazards so she can manoeuvre safely around them; keeping her afloat. 

“Right, so you weren’t happy then. How about now though?” Chas interrupts her musing. “Are you happy now?” she prompts. 

Charity nods. Even now, when she’s overcome so much, and come so far, she’s still wary about stating her good fortune out loud, afraid the universe will take notice and seek to re-address the balance. 

Chas grins triumphantly. “See? This is exactly what I mean! She’s changed you. You’re happy, finally.”

“I don’t think she has changed me. Not really. I’m still me. Ness just…” She looks at Chas. “Ness is the only one that’s ever believed in me.” Chas looks away, guiltily. 

“She’s given me the space I needed to make the right decisions. Understood me when I made the wrong ones.” There’s a pointedness to Charity’s words, and Chas feels a sudden urge to apologise. But she can’t find the words, and if she’s honest, she’s not sure what she’d be apologising for. 

Chas shrugs. Dingles have never been much good at self-reflection and she feels too old and tired to start now. “Anyway, that’s enough gabbing. She loves you, you love her. So are we doing this or what?” She leans toward the door release handle, ready to open it, the flippancy of the question a stark contrast to the meaning loaded behind it.

For a moment, Charity thinks. She can see her future stretching in front of her (a nice change, to be able to see a future that doesn’t leave her feeling hopeless or trapped or sick). A proposal, a marriage, a wife. A life.  _ Together.  _ Happiness. There’s still time enough for her to fuck things up though. There’s always time for that. And god knows, Charity has never needed much encouragement to ruin everything and everyone around her. She can still put a stop to this proposal though. Change her mind, go back to the pub, pretend this whole trip never happened. The problem is, now she’s allowed herself to imagine that picture perfect future she’ll stop at nothing to make it happen. 

Charity pushes her shoulders back and takes a deep breath.  “Yeah. Let’s go ring shopping.”


End file.
